Behind the Wheel - Restricted Utility Vehicles

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Have you ever wanted to drive your special purpose utility vehicle on the highway but were prevented because it could not be licensed and insured? Effective February 1, 2009 Division 24 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations was amended to broaden the type or utility vehicle and their areas of operation. While in most cases you won't be taking your golf cart downtown for groceries, you will be able to use certain utility vehicles which sometimes require road use, incidental to their off road work.

Once properly licensed, you will be able to use a wider range of utility vehicles for incidental use in and around work sites and in designated areas, for example: private property, parking lots, campgrounds, golf courses. That is in addition to pre-existing uses of crossing a road or travelling in a ditch or on a grass boulevard with an ATV.

Operation permits from police will not be required where the utility vehicle is operated in routine, low-speed settings such as private property, parking lots, universities, colleges and other designated areas; for public works use of utility vehicles on roads that have a speed limit of less than 50 km/h; and, when law enforcement uses a utility vehicle for a law enforcement purpose. The police issued operation permit will continue to be required for use situations that have higher risk and are not listed in these examples.

The use of golf carts and snowmobiles regulated by this division in the past has not changed, but miniature vehicles such as pocket bikes, go karts and toy scooters are now specifically prohibited from on road operation unless they are being used as part of a parade.

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